Welcome to this brief intro to Schiffbruch (Shipwreck). Its purpose is to make your new life simple on this lonely island and to show you the most important features in the game. After the start-up screen, you'll see a small ship sailing through unfamiliar territory. You'll crash and swim to shore: the game begins.

The most important features in Schiffbruch are the three fluid levels on the right side of the screen. If your health drops to zero, you'll die. If you have enough food and drinking water, your health will go up-- otherwise, it will go down. Therefore, the first thing that you'll need to do is to look for something to eat and to find the river.

When you click on land that has been discovered already (anything that's black is undiscovered), the planned path will be shown in red. If you click again, you will go to that spot. If you come to the edge of the screen, you can scroll across the visible area of the map by holding down the right mouse button. It would be best if you go first to the interior of the land, because you can find the river there the most frequently.
Along the way, you'll definitely come across a few bushes with red berries. Go to the spot on which they're growing and click on the button with the two cogs/gears on it located on the left side. This will open the Action Menu. There you can click on the knife-and-fork symbol to eat the berries on the bush. At this point, you can also click on the magnifying glass so that you can search the area for useful objects. Keep searching until you've found a branch and then keep going until you reach the river.
When you've found the river, go directly to it and click on the knife-and-fork button to take a drink. It's best to keep drinking until your water supply is completely replenished.

You've just ensured the first level of your survival. Now let's make your life a little more pleasant. To do this, try searching in the river, where you'll probably find a stone. Go to your Inventory by clicking on the chest located to the right. You'll see a stone and a branch in your inventory. Click on the branch (the cursor will change to a branch) and then on the stone. You'll hear "Bing!" and you've just built an ax.
Now you can walk to a tree and click on the animated falling tree in the Action Menu. You'll chop down your first tree. If you look at your inventory again, you'll see that you have a bunch of raw materials now. Now walk to an open, flat piece of land. Go into the Building Menu (the hammer button) and click on the tent.
After a while, you'll have a new tent. You can build a harrow or hoe from another branch and stone from your inventory: now you can plow a field next to the river (in the Building Menu once again).

You've learned the basics now. Of course, you can build many other things and tools (but you'll have to discover this on your own). New buttons will only become visible after you have the right tool.


Some Addtional Information:

Time goes by only when you're doing something. You can stand around if you'd like without having to hurry. The time is displayed to the lower right side. At 6 p.m. sharp, you have to go to sleep. If you're caught out in the open, your health will drop sharply: therefore, please make sure that you sleep in a tent (or something better).

In the status bar at the bottom of the screen, lots of useful information will be displayed constantly. Here you'll see, for example, how much raw material is required for a given construction or the function of any given button.

The actual goal of the game is to be rescued. Your chances of being seen by a passing plane (not visible) is symbolised by the life preserver shown at the upper right. This percentage shows you the probability of being saved on that same day. You can increase your chances, for example, by making S.O.S. signs from stones.

The Options Menu is at the top right edge of the screen: using this, you can end the game, start the game over, or begin a new day. If you decide to end the game, it will be saved automatically (if there's enough space in the game's folder (ca. 2.5MB)). When you start the game again, your saved game will be loaded automatically. If you'd like to keep your saved game or if you'd like to keep several saved games, you only have to rename the 'save.dat' file or copy it to a new directory. When you start the game again, Schiffbruch will create a brand new map and game.

Later in the game, try sailing around the island in a boat (Warning: pay attention to the time)-- you might find something interesting! :)

Okay, now that you're totally confused, have fun!!